TikTok users are reporting difficulty accessing content critical of President Trump on the platform. The reports follow similar recent criticism leveled against Meta for blocking search terms linked to Democrats on Instagram, marking the latest developments in a series of content moderation controversies across major social media platforms this week.
Currently, multiple TikTok users have documented that searches for terms critical of Trump produce a “No results found” message when accessed from US-based accounts, while the same searches from international accounts still return the relevant content, the International Business Times reports . User X’s post demonstrating these differences by switching between US and UK VPNs has received over 187,000 likes, with others reporting that attempts to repost content critical of Trump’s policies are being blocked by error messages of the connection, despite having no other problems accessing the platform.
These reports come just days after TikTok restarted service after a 12-hour shutdown that ended after Trump indicated he would issue an executive order (which has since been signed) allowing the platform to continue operating in the United States. United. In response to these concerns, a TikTok spokesperson told AV Club that the company’s policies and algorithms have not changed, attributing the current issues to temporary instability as US operations have returned to normal. The spokesperson noted that there may be various reasons why posts are flagged during this service restoration period.
The wider social media controversy
Meta has also faced criticism regarding changes to fact-checking policies and blocked user reports. … [+]
These developments at TikTok coincide with significant changes across the social media landscape. Meta’s platforms are experiencing their aforementioned criticism of content moderation, with users reporting that searches for Democratic Party-related terms on Instagram trigger a “may contain sensitive content” warning. While Meta acknowledged these issues to the BBC as “a mistake that affects hashtags across the political spectrum,” the timing has raised questions about content moderation practices during political transition.
This review also comes on the heels of Meta’s recent announcement of ending its fact-checking program in the US, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg declaring that third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and stating that it was “time to return to our roots around free”. expression.”
The recent Meta controversy has led to a week-long “Lights Out Meta” boycott campaign, initiated by REM’s Michael Stipe, which encourages users to abandon Meta platforms from January 19-26. Meanwhile, major Reddit communities, including r/Formula1 with its 4.8 million subscribers, are banning links to X content in response to Elon Musk’s gesture at a Trump inauguration event.
Looking Forward
As social media platforms continue to adapt their content moderation approaches, these developments raise questions about the future of user discourse. While some platforms say the recent changes are intended to improve user experience and reduce accidental content restrictions, the timing of these changes has drawn widespread criticism from some users and communities.
For now, as TikTok works to stabilize its service and Meta addresses content filtering issues, users continue to look for solutions to access restricted content. Addressing these issues by platforms can be crucial to maintaining user trust, especially during this period of significant change in the political and social media landscape.